Environment Matters Spring - Summer 2023

Increasing resilience to future floods FLOOD IS A REALITY OF LIFE IN IPSWICH

Since the major floods of 2022, council and the community have been taking action to increase our city’s resilience to future flooding events.

VOLUNTARY HOME BUY-BACK This program, administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, enabled the voluntary buy-back of homes that were most severely impacted and at the greatest risk of future flooding. Houses and land purchased under the voluntary program became the property of council, with buildings demolished and the land set to be re-zoned so houses cannot be rebuilt. As of 30 June there had been 82 voluntary buy-backs, covering more than 23 hectares of land. These new vacant areas may be considered for uses suitable to their flood risk, such as sporting fields, parkland or natural areas.

GAUGE AND CAMERA NETWORK A new network of 11 livestream flood cameras have been installed on important waterway locations across the city. These can provide real-time community information in future flood events. The live camera feeds are open to the public. Find them on the Disaster Dashboard at Disaster.ipswich.qld.gov.au Council has also invested in improvements to rainfall and river gauges at key locations to provide real- time data during severe weather events.

ENVIRONMENTAL FLOOD RECOVERY Over 12 months following the floods council removed about 11,920kg of debris during the clean up of our waterways. Council also assessed the condition of waterways across the city and identified 20 high priority sites for rehabilitation. Significant repairs were also made to conservation estate tracks and trails, with further works to increase resilience to future flood events. A special flood bursary was offered to Landholder Conservation Partnerships Program members to restore and build resilience in flood-damaged waterways. Works carried out varied from revegetation and weed management, through to engineered solutions such as rock stabilisation.

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